Frame charges against Virbhadra: Mankotia
Dharamsala, September 4
Former Congress leader Vijay Singh Mankotia has demanded that the Himachal government should frame charges against Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh.
While addressing a press conference here today, Mankotia said, “Now that the
high court has rejected Virbhadra’s application, the Himachal government
should not hesitate in acting against him.

Bali: Govt ignoring Cong constituencies
Kangra, September 4
Former Transport and Tourism Minister and sitting MLA from Nagrota Bagwan GS Bali today lambasted the state government for its “unfair attitude” towards the constituencies which were represented by other than BJP legislators and described it as unfortunate action.

CM cold to apple growers’ woes: Cong
Shimla, September 4
War of words between the Opposition and the government over the apple issue further intensified with Congress general secretary Kuldeep Rathore accusing Chief Minister PK Dhumal of not taking the problems of growers seriously.

Pvt varsities barred from offering online courses
Shimla, September 4
Private universities, which are not allowed to run distance education, will also not be able to run online courses.
With the government giving a nod to a large number of universities without bothering
about the requirement and financial viability, some of the new instituitions are not finding many students.

Workshop on NDPS Act begins
Manali, September 4
A two-day workshop on the “NDPS Act and related issues” was started by the Himachal Pradesh Judicial Academy here today.
About 90 officers from the judiciary, the police and the forest department are
participating. The workshop will conclude on September 5.

Chief Justice of the HP High Court Justice Kurian Joseph delivers a lecture at
a workshop in Manali on Saturday. Photo: MC Thakur

Campaign against foeticide
Hamirpur, September 4
Students and teachers of the International Institute of Fashion Design, in collaboration with local chapter of the Art Of Living
organisation, today launched a signature campaign against female foeticide and drug menace.

More flights for Dharamsala demanded
Palampur, September 4
The Palampur Travel Agents’ Association yesterday demanded additional flights on the
Delhi-Dharamsala route to facilitate the inflow of tourists to Kangra, Hamirpur and Chamba districts in the state.

Dharamsala, September 4
Former Congress leader Vijay Singh Mankotia has demanded that the Himachal government should frame charges against Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh.

While addressing a press conference here today, Mankotia said, “Now that the high court has rejected Virbhadra’s application, the Himachal government should not hesitate in acting against him. The credibility of the present government that highlighted the CD case is also at stake.”

It has been over two-and-a-half years since the BJP took over. However, it has failed to file a charge sheet in the case. It raises serious doubts about the intentions of the party, he added.

“The state should have summoned and questioned the former chief minister and his wife in other charges of corruption levelled against them during the elections. Their kin, who were equal beneficiaries, should also have been questioned,” he added.

He also demanded that Virbhadra should now resign as the Union Minister of Steel on moral grounds.

Mankotia, who had released the audio cassette carrying alleged conversation of Virbhadra and his wife, said somebody had left the audio cassette at his MLA hostel residence in Shimla.

“The original audio cassette is still in my possession,” he said.

According to sources, the audio cassette contained alleged conversation between a senior government official and Virbhadra Singh. It was recorded in 1988-89 by a senior bureaucrat who later delivered it to Mankotia. The latter released the audio cassette that was converted by others into audio CDs.

An FIR was registered against Virbhadra in the matter after the Chandigarh-based government forensic laboratory confirmed that the voice in the cassette was that of Virbhadra.

Virbhadra had moved the high court, seeking quashing of the FIR in the case. However, the court turned down his petition on Friday.

As per legal procedure, the government can now proceed in filing charges against Virbhadra in the CD case. However, under the law, the investigating agencies will have to prove that the recorded conversation actually led to corruption or crime to register a case against the former chief minister.

Kangra, September 4
Former Transport and Tourism Minister and sitting MLA from Nagrota Bagwan GS Bali today lambasted the state government for its “unfair attitude” towards the constituencies which were represented by other than BJP legislators and described it as unfortunate action.

Bali was talking to mediapersons at Nagrota Bagwan. He said it was unfortunate that the state government was working in a partisan manner and was not working as a government for the people but as government for the BJP workers. He alleged the assembly segment was being victimised on all fronts so much so even the offices in this constituency were now being shifted to other places.

He alleged that even the fabric of Dr RP Govt Medical College at Tanda was being ignored as it was falling in his constituency. He alleged that this medical college was already suffering with shortage of doctors and the government was deputing doctors to other rural hospital from here.

He alleged that the Regional Transport Office flying squad was shifted from Nagrota Bagwan to Dharamsala with no justification when it was located on the Pathankot-Mandi National Highway.

Bali demanded that the PWD division should be shifted back to Tanda and the prestige of the Tanda Medical College should be re-established.

Shimla, September 4
War of words between the Opposition and the government over the apple issue further intensified with Congress general secretary Kuldeep Rathore accusing Chief Minister PK Dhumal of not taking the problems of growers seriously.

Instead of implementing concrete measures to remove the difficulties being faced by the growers in marketing their produce, Dhumal was trying to wriggle out of widespread criticism by alleging that the Congress was politicising the issue.

He said as the main Opposition party, it was the responsibility of the Congress to highlight the plight of growers who were facing unending problems in marketing their produce because of shortage of packaging material, trucks and bad roads.

The government could not escape responsibility for the failure of the administration in making proper arrangements for the marketing of the produce by blaming heavy rain or bumper crop for the woes of growers, he added.

The government created much hype about the commission issue. However, despite the order of the Delhi High Court, it failed to provide any reprieve to growers who were still being exploited by arhtias (commission agents) and ladanis (wholesale distributors) at the Azadpur market, he said.

Instead of indulging in blame game to sidetrack the main issue, the government should take immediate steps to arrange adequate cartons, trays and trucks for the growers so that they could send the produce to the market without any further delay, Rathore added.

Shimla, September 4
Private universities, which are not allowed to run distance education, will also not be able to run online courses.
With the government giving a nod to a large number of universities without bothering
about the requirement and financial viability, some of the new instituitions are not finding many students. Some institutions are keen to start online courses.

However, the government has made it clear that private institutions will not be permitted to start online courses and accordingly it has rejected the application of Manav Bharati University. The government had barred private universities from running distance education courses after the UGC warned the state universities against offering courses through distance education outside their jurisdiction.

These universities are competent to award degrees, as specified under Section 22 of the UGC Act, only on their campus. With no regulatory mechanism in place, a free-for-all-like situation has been prevailing with the government enacting laws to set up new universities and allowing them to start courses anytime, making a mockery of the academic calendar.

Though the approval of the All-India Council for Technical Education
(AICTE) is mandatory for starting engineering, MBA and MCA courses, these are being started without approval and the government is turning a blind eye to it.

There is no system or norms for admissions which are being conducted almost throughout the year and the education department has no information about enrollment. There is still no move to introduce a common entrance for admissions to various courses run by private universities.

The UGC has framed comprehensive norms for deemed universities but the state government seems to be in no mood to follow suit.

Manali, September 4
A two-day workshop on the “NDPS Act and related issues” was started by the Himachal Pradesh Judicial Academy here today.
About 90 officers from the judiciary, the police and the forest department are
participating. The workshop will conclude on September 5. The workshop was inaugurated by Justice Kurian Joseph, Chief Justice, High Court of Himachal Pradesh, who is also the patron of the Judicial Academy.

Addressing a gathering, the Chief Justice said the youth were falling pray to the drug menace. So it was necessary that the guilty should be punished. Justice Joseph also said if required, NDPS courts could be created separately. He called upon the officers from forest, police and judiciary to come together and learn from each other so that quality justice could be delivered.

Justice Deepak Gupta, president of the judicial academy, welcomed all dignitaries and participant-officers present in this workshop.

Ajay Mittal, Principal Secretary (Home), delivered a special address during the inaugural ceremony.

Director of the judicial academy S.L.Sharma thanked Justice Joseph, Judges of the High Court, and other dignitaries, guests and participant officers present in the workshop. Justice Surinder Singh, Justice Kuldip Singh, Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice V.K.Sharma, Judges, A.C.Dogra, Principal Secretary (Law), Director, Prosecution and many other dignitaries were also present in the inaugural ceremony of this workshop.

Hamirpur, September 4
Students and teachers of the International Institute of Fashion Design, in collaboration with local chapter of the Art Of Living organisation, today launched a signature campaign against female foeticide and drug menace.
Three boards were placed at Gandhi Chowk and hundreds of students and local residents participated in this campaign.

A rally was also taken out by students of the institute throughout the market, raising slogans and carrying placards against the social evils. Managing director of the institute Sat Pal Sharma, staff and members of the Art Of Living organisation were also present on this occasion.

A local artiste performs on the concluding day of
the Hamir Utsav at Hamirpur on Friday. A Tribune photograph

Hamirpur, September 4
The three-day Hamir Utsav cultural celebrations concluded here last night. Three Himachali artistes — Karnail Rana, Dheeraj Sharma and Rajiv Thapa — performed in the concluding function. While Karnail and Dheeraj presented popular pahari songs, Rajiv sang Bollywood numbers. Folk dances also
formed an integral part of the programme.

Education Minister ID Dhiman was the chief guest on the occasion. He was welcomed by Hamirpur Deputy Commissioner Abhishek Jain who presented him a pahari shawl and cap.

Sports competitions, dog show and flower show also came to an end on the last day of the Hamir Utsav.

In kabbadi, the Bijhad block won the first prize while Toani Devi team won the volleyball competition. Jitender Kumar of Daloh won the wrestling match.

Palampur, September 4
The Palampur Travel Agents’ Association yesterday demanded additional flights on the Delhi-Dharamsala route to facilitate the inflow of tourists to Kangra, Hamirpur and Chamba districts in the state.

Naveen Sareen, spokesman of the association, said at present only one flight of Kingfisher Airline with 40 seater small aircraft was operating daily between Delhi and Dharmsala route.

Since the Kingfisher had monopoly on this route, its tariffs were high. In the peak tourist season, it charged Rs 11,000 per seat from Delhi to Dharamsala. Despite repeated requests to state, the issue was never taken up with Civil Aviation Minister and tourists were getting exploited by the airline.
— OC